Two Perth students who suffer from endometriosis are front-lining research into the painful condition. The pair are working to improve the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis, one of Australia’s most prevalent but least understood chronic condition. They say more needs to be done to help future generations of women.
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00:00Medical student Akiti James is on the front line of research into endometriosis.
00:07She knows first hand what it's like living with the severe pelvic pain that comes with the condition.
00:15And if you don't get on top of that pain quickly, it really gets out of control.
00:20It happens when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows elsewhere.
00:26In one age group, about 1 in 7 women and those assigned female at birth are affected.
00:32Ms James has set up a biobank of tissue donated by women who've had surgery in Perth.
00:40We want to really understand how and why endometriosis occurs,
00:44so that we can find better treatments and better ways to diagnose people with endometriosis that aren't so invasive.
00:52Here we keep the cells in the incubator so that they can grow.
00:56Science student Sarah Walsh is studying the cells grown from the tissue as part of her PhD.
01:02She's got high hopes of what can ultimately be achieved.
01:06So if we can figure out something like a blood test, like oh you have this marker, you could potentially have endo.
01:12And if we can figure out what these guys are doing, we can treat endometriosis.
01:16Teagan Phillips has tried everything to treat the pain she's had since her early teens.
01:21You can see this is your uterus up here.
01:23She's now preparing to have surgery again because the symptoms returned shortly after her initial operation to diagnose and remove the endo in 2018.
01:34It's never ideal to be having rape hate surgeries,
01:37but I feel like there's only so many non-surgical options that are available and effective.
01:42Doctors say the biobank, one of a number nationally and part of an international network,
01:48is a vital component in trying to understand the enigma of endo.
01:53The more biobank samples we have throughout the world, the more researchers can unlock the secrets.
02:00A bank of hope for future generations.